E361: The 80-20 Rule to Streamlining Your E-Commerce Business

About eighty percent of the most popular classical music comes from only twenty percent of all the composers. When working out, twenty percent of the exercises account for eighty percent of the muscle you gain. This is known as the Pareto principle or the 80-20 rule.

In e-commerce, 80 percent of your sales often come from only 20 percent of your entire product line. 

In this follow-up Under the Hood session with Nic Dillon, we break down the 80-20 rule and discuss why focusing on a few best sellers is much easier—not to mention more profitable—than handling a lot of SKUs. 

Nic runs Old Delhi Music, a company that sells traditional Indian musical instruments like sitars and harmoniums. 

In this episode, we also talk about how he got past the mom-and-pop manufacturing industry of India in order to scale his business, how his company fared during a year of COVID, and how to manage an offshore team.

Timestamps

• What Old Delhi Music is all about - 02:37
• Why Nic started his own factory in India - 4:08
• How to streamline a business with a lot of SKUs - 15:04
• When the 80-20 rule does not apply - 32:30
• How to maintain cohesion in your offshore team and set them up for success - 37:18
• How to be someone that people love to work for - 51:10

I’d like to thank Nic for coming back to the show. Check out his awesome collection of high-quality, handcrafted Indian instruments at Old Delhi Music.

To sign up for an hour-long coaching session and be featured on the podcast, head over to our Under the Hood registration page.

Nic and I talked a bit about how sourcing from China is, in many ways, much easier than sourcing from India. If you’re looking to master the art of importing from the world’s factory, grab a free copy of Dave’s book (pay only for shipping!), Import From China Like a Pro.  

Did you like this episode? Give us a pat on the back by leaving us a review over on iTunes.

Until the next one, happy selling!